Our researchers
The Institute’s researchers
Sofia Sjö
ThD, Associate professor of the study of religions
E-mail sofia.sjo@abo.fiReligion and film has been the main focus area of my research, but I am interested in religion, media and culture research broadly. During the last couple of years my research has also focused on young adults and religion and areas such as socialization, gender, digital media and volunteer work.
Anna-Stina Hägglund
PhD
E-mail anna-stina.hagglund@abo.fiI am a historian with a focus on religiosity and culture of remembrance in late medieval society (the period 1300–1500). My research primarily revolves around lived religion, the cult of saints, and pious donations. In my ongoing project, I study testamentary donations in order to investigate the spiritual networks in medieval Sweden, as well as how testators prepared for death by creating personal bonds with religious institutions through gifts.
John Björkman
PhD
E-mail john.bjorkman@abo.fiI am a folklorist researching the geography and spatiality of folk belief. I am particularly interested in how folk belief correlates with the structures and spatial order of historic agrarian societies as well as understanding sacred sites through bodily experience and interaction with the environment. In my current project Geographies of the Sacred, I focus particularly on how cultural boundary- and meeting zones are reflected in folk belief, meeting sacred sites as environments and working with place-based folklore data.
Andrea Franchetto
PhD
E-mail andrea.franchetto@stiftelsenabo.fiMagic and Ritual Space are the major focus areas of my research. I am broadly interested in mystical experiences, the Cognitive Science of Religion, and sacred architecture. The research project I am developing as postdoctoral research at DI centres on the transmission of premodern magical practices to contemporary alternative spirituality.